Welcome jubilant viewers
to Vegetarian Elite.
It is our pleasure
to introduce to you
actress and dancer,
the lovely Ms. Tonya Kay.

When people feel good,
they make
different choices, too.
So I’m really into that,
just helping individuals
feel their best
so that they can get
to that childish place
where they can create
and love and play again.

Today, we will
spend some time with
the multi-faceted artist
and find out how
a simple change in diet
that started
three decades ago
have helped transform
her life and livelihood.

I just really believe
you can change the world
if you change what you eat.

Multi-talented only begins
to describe Tonya Kay.
She is an award-winning
actress and writer;
professional dancer,
model, vocalist,
environmentalist,
and philanthropist.
Aside from her
starring roles
in movie and television,
Tonya is also
well recognized
for her athletic abilities,
especially
her unique combination
of stunt and dance.

Her talents have led to
invitations to appear on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
The Tonight Show
with Conan O’Brien,
American Idol with
multi-Grammy winning
singer Rihanna, and
America’s Got Talent,
among others.
As a professional dancer
and stage performer,
she has toured with
STOMP, De La Guarda,
Panic at the Disco,
and Kenny Rogers.

The next couple of months,
I’ve got some appearances
on some TV shows.
I just won
best supporting actress
in the 2011
Los Angeles Movie Awards,
for my portrayal of Kielle
in a series
called “Silver Lake.”
I’m going to be dancing
in the Muppets movie.
That comes out
this Thanksgiving,
and I got to work
with the Muppets.
And I’m going to be
in an episode of
“Friends with Benefits”;
it’s a new series on NBC.
And I’m filming
a music video this week.
Oh, and I’m on a car show;
I restore classic cars.
And I’ll be on Speed TV
on a show
called “My Ride Rules.”

A couple other projects
that I’m in that you should
definitely check out are
“Bold Native.”
“Bold Native” is
the first fictional film about
the Animal Liberation
Front.
Everyone
on the production team
was vegan or went vegan
for the duration.
And that was
about the coolest set
I’ve ever been on.

Also, I am the voice
of Green Girl
in an animated series
called “Raw Man
and Green Girl,”
and it’s about
raw super heroes
who fight the nasty,
the beekeeper
and Franken food
and things like that;
it’s super cool for kids.

I’ve gotten to work
with some really great,
notable other vegetarian
and vegan celebrities.
I did a modeling shoot
with Russell Brand.
I filmed a music video
with Rob Zombie.
I worked with
Ellen DeGeneres
in Las Vegas,
she’s a famous vegan.
(Very famous.)
And it’s really cool to
connect with these people
in the workplace.
Hollywood really grabs
onto the next fashion,
the next fad.
They’re really open
to change;
California’s progressive.

Like raw food
and raw vegan food are
a super popular movement.
There are 12 restaurants
in the area that I can go to
that are raw vegan,
and there are tons more
that are raw-friendly.
And the great thing about
the raw vegan movement
is that just because
it’s popular,
people latch onto it.
But they stick with it
because it works.
There’s not a human being
that doesn’t feel
the positive change
that happens to them.
It’s definitely experiential.
You don’t need
to read the books –
you need to do it.

Being on a raw vegan diet
for the last 10 years,
Tonya accredits
her achievements
and strength
to her plant-based diet.
With a strong belief
that this is the best diet
for maximum health
and for protecting
the environment,
she strives
to convey this message
through different activities
such as writing books
and television appearances.
She writes
weekly columns in
the EcoHearth Magazine,
volunteers
for the preservation
of endangered species,
and donates to
animal protection projects.

I went vegetarian for
animal compassion reasons,
unconscious animal
compassion reasons.
I went vegan
to break the system;
it was an act of rebellion.

I went vegan
when I was on tour
with Kenny Rogers.
And it was 5 AM,
we stopped
at this truck stop
and I wanted food.
And when I went in there
to the truck stop,
I looked at this
with all neon packaging
and cartoon characters,
and none of it
looked like a food to me.
And I saw instead
how the system
is really set up against us.
And I went raw vegan
as a desire to really find out
what healthy was.

And I had been taking
care of the other animals
for so long
that I was kind of doing
a reverse specie-ism.
So going raw was really
an act of self-love
where I considered myself
one of the animals
and now we’re all one.
And I have
extraordinary health.
The health benefits
going from cooked vegan
to raw vegan
have been extraordinary,
nothing less than
miraculous in my life.

Can you talk a little
about how being
a raw vegan impacts
your life as an actor?

There are so many ways
that being a raw vegan
impacts my life
as a professional actress
and a professional dancer.
Athletically,
being a raw vegan
has helped my athleticism
just skyrocket.
Now I get injured far less.

My connection to my body
has become
so crystal clear, that
I can hear the movements
that are causing injury
long before
I ever was used to.
And then
if I do get injured –
cuts, bruises, contusions
whatever,
accidents happen –
then my healing rate
is so much faster.
It’s also mental.
It’s the knowledge
that I’ve gathered
being a raw vegan
that has made me
a better athlete.
I have the tools to eat,
make choices that
help me sustain my energy
over a long period of time,
where before
I just didn’t even know.

And I get a little bit sad
when an adult asks me
questions about diet
and how sugar
is processed in the body.
And why do they
have diabetes or
why are they depressed.
And I get a little bit sad
that in the school systems
we’re giving kids diplomas
but they don’t even know
how their own body works.
We have not
prepared them for life
if they don’t know
how diabetes is caused.
Adults are turning to me
and asking
“I want these tools now.”
So I feel like
having these tools,
this education,
and then acting upon it,
has made me
a better athlete.

And in the acting world,
my ability
to tap into my emotions
is so clean.
I’m not afraid
to connect with people.
That’s a really great asset
for an actor to have
because I really believe
that acting is one of
the most noble art forms
that one can undertake.

It’s a fascination with
humanity and psychology
and wanting so badly
to know
what the experience
of another person is like
that we would forfeit
all of our own experiences
in order to
understand them better.
So being a raw vegan has
just cleaned up that space
where that happens.
Where I can just really
get into another person
and share the thing
that helps me understand
what it’s like to be them.
That’s called compassion.

Tonya Kay was born
in Michigan in a small
farming community,
and at a very young age
was concerned by
the inhumane treatment
of animals.
Intuitively, she refused
to eat her friends,
the animals.

I’ve been a vegetarian
for almost 30 years.
I have been vegan
for 20 of those years.
And I’ve been a raw vegan
for the last 10.
And each progression
was a distinct
and separate experience
unto itself.
Obviously I went vegetarian
very young.
And that was probably
based on an
unconscious knowledge
of the suffering
that animals go through.

My grandparents
had a slaughterhouse
and I got to see firsthand
what was going on
and really I didn’t know
I was making this decision.
My mom was the one
who told me
at the dinner table.
She says, “Do you know
what they call people
like you,” and she says,
“Vegetarian.”

We asked Tonya
to share with us
her own experience
in transitioning from
vegan to raw veganism,
in hopes that her story
will help our viewers
who aspire to the same way
of eating and living.

I never want
to feel restricted at all.
So I just made a list
of all of my favorite
cooked foods, because
I was already a vegan.
and which ones
were my favorite,
I decided I would always
have on hand,
in my kitchen.
Anything that was not
on that list,
I just got rid of that stuff,
and replaced that
with more raw food.
So in the end, I was just
eating huge amounts
of raw food and always
also had my favorite
cooked foods on hand.

And then over time,
just being patient
with yourself, I noticed
that my tastes changed.
And my taste buds now,
they’re super receptive
to the life taste.
And brown foods and
oily foods and whatever,
they just don’t rank
very high anymore.

Ms. Kay strongly believes
that creating the world
in which we wish to live in
starts with ourselves.

I’m in for the health.
I’m in for the compassion,
but the environmental
aspect is what really
moves me right now
at this point, a decade
into my raw veganness.
I just really believe
you can change the world
if you change what you eat.

By changing our diet,
really we would be
changing the environment.
We would be changing
the way we interact
in the community.
If we had
a mass movement of
people going vegetarian,
vegan, raw vegan –
if a mass movement
went to that direction,
it would be
a more peaceful society,
a more utopian society,
be like living
on a paradise island.
And that’s
where I want to live.
I want everybody to join,
join this party over here
because this party is good.

Our admiration,
Ms. Tonya Kay, for your
will power, idealism,
and appreciation for life.
Wishing you success
in all your endeavors of
bringing much kindness
and beauty to our world.

My name is Tonya Kay.
Be Veg,
Go Green
2 Save the Planet!

For more
on the multi-talented
Tonya Kay and her work,
please visit
www.TonyaKay.com

Gracious viewers,
thank you
for your presence today
on Vegetarian Elite.
Coming up next is
Between Master
and Disciples,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May the songs of Nature
lift your heart to dance
and your soul to sing.